Equestrian Royal Navy
Captain’s Log, 26 Days After Apocalypse

We’ve been working our way north for two days now, and my earlier concerns have proven to be correct. As we passed into the northern theater, the weather began getting exponentially worse. And I’m not talking rain and thunder, I’m talking snow. For the last day and a half we’ve been crawling forward just over the treetops on our instruments. And the annoying part is that it isn’t even actively snowing. There’s simply so much snow on the ground that the winds are whipping everything into a whiteout. The geiger counters aren’t going off, so it’s safe to say that none of this is laced with fallout. But even though that’s the case, you can’t grow crops when the ground is frozen solid, although melting the snow will provide a ready source of clean water. As of now our best estimate is that we’ll reach the outskirts of Poneva within the next few days, but both Spark and I doubt that we’ll be able to go much farther north… I just don’t know. We’ll find out when we get there.

***

Equestrian Royal Navy
Captain’s Log, 30 Days After Apocalypse

Well, we finally made it to Poneva… Goddess, what was I expecting that we’d find? The city is essentially a giant graveyard. We could make out crash sites, bomb craters, and destroyed buildings. But the one thing that’s missing, and maybe it’s because of the impaired visibility from all of this snow, is the signs of life in the ruins. Every other settlement we’d been over had shown signs of life… Could the survivors have died off from radiation sickness? Could they have hunkered down somewhere in the ruins? Hell, did they just abandon the city? I’ve got far too many questions at this point. But with luck we’ll find some answers in the morning once we find a place to land.

***

Equestrian Royal Navy
Captain’s Log, 31 Days After Apocalypse

When I said that we’d get some answers with a bit of luck, I was hoping that the answers would be positive. Honestly I should’ve gone in with reduced expectations. We landed outside the city limits near slew of crashed vertibucks. They were… They were full of dead bodies. There, I said it! I never thought I would see so many dead bodies in one place. Soldiers, mares, even children… This was an attempt at an evacuation of the city, likely before the bombs hit, and none of these ponies managed to escape their doom. In the cold of the northern part of Equestria, the looks of pain and suffering were still on the faces of these ponies. Looks that were frozen in time, and will likely remain so until the day that this graveyard thaws out… Assuming that they do ever thaw out up here.

***

Equestrian Royal Navy
Captain’s Log, 32 Days After Apocalypse

Sandstorm and his Marine detachment have gone missing. Since we discovered the crash site yesterday I’ve had teams going into Poneva searching for survivors. Spark has been leading one team, and he was the last one in direct contact with Sandstorm. A few hours ago he reported movement, and then went dark. Attempts by Spark and myself to raise him have thus far failed.

***

Equestrian Royal Navy
Captain’s Log, 32 Days After Apocalypse
Entry Amendment

Spark just reported in. He found Sandstorm’s unit… Or what’s left of them anyway. Something is definitely alive in Poneva, because whatever is out there completely shredded Sandstorm and his team to bits. And I mean bits. Spark found limbs, chunks of flesh, shredded uniforms, destroyed weapons… And Sandstorm’s disembodied and mutilated head. I’ve already called his team back. We’re leaving this city before whatever is out there finds the picket.

***

Equestrian Royal Navy
Captain’s Log, 33 Days After Apocalypse

Entry 1
Damn it, why did I forget about that damn snow? Overnight a blizzard rolled in, and until it clears we’re grounded. What worries me is that something is out there… Using the thermal imagers on the gun cameras we’ve seen signs of movement. Figures that look rather pony-like darting about in the squall, visible for only a moment before disappearing from our view. It’s got me nervous, and the crew can tell…

Entry 2
Where we can’t go anywhere yet Spark took a team and set up a perimeter with twenty of the crew, securing the way on and off the ship. All said we had about fifty ponies left aboard… I think. Honestly I can’t really remember how many ponies we started out with at this point. But now we’re down to Thirty. Spark… He’s gone. The entire perimeter team just gone. No one know where they went. There was no signs of any struggle, and the gun camera on the underside of the hull decided to pick a great time to fail, so we couldn’t see what happened at the ramp. Not only has one of my most trusted officers disappeared, but valued members of my-

Entry 3
Changelings. It was fucking Changelings. That's what was running around out in the snow, and I’d wager that’s what took Spark and his security detail. They attacked the picket in force… What were they shooting? It was like they were firing red-hot rivets at us. It all started when ‘Spark’ returned to the ship looking beaten. As we let him on board a large group of changeling stormed the ship, and Spark turned out to be one of them. Ten of us managed to survive by barricading ourselves on the bridge… But everyone else… There was plenty of blood, but no bodies. They were all taken, every single pony that was elsewhere on the picket. The surviving crew wanted to bring the ramp up but I wouldn’t let them. Instead I did it, and suffered the consequences. There must’ve still been a Changeling outside because one of those rivet things nailed me in the left shoulder. It’s still stuck in there even as I write this. We don’t know exactly what it hit so the surviving medic doesn’t want to pull it out until she can take a look at some of the other rounds that litter the ship. Since then we took off and have slowly been heading south through the blizzard… But does any of this even matter anymore? Most of my crew is likely dead and there’s no way we’ll reach the research base.

***

Equestrian Royal Navy
Captain’s Log, 34 Days After Apocalypse

We’ve been forced to land, the weather is just way too bad. While we wait out the weather the few of us have taken stock of our situation. We didn’t realize it yesterday but most of our food and water stores have been trashed, and a sizable chunk of our first aid materials have gone missing. I can only assume that our guests from yesterday are responsible. But suffice to say we don’t have enough to get through the week… At least not with all of us still here. So… Uh… I gave the order. I sent the nine other ponies under my command south on foot. They’re taking everything they can carry, and with luck they’ll find some sort of civilization soon enough. As for me? Well this is my last log entry… Overnight that rivet I was hit with started swelling and oozing. It’s tetanus, and we don’t have the proper medical supplies to treat it. If anyone finds this my name is Steadfast, Captain of Navy Picket E-201. I saw how our world died, so please learn from our mistakes. Be better than we were, and never forget the hell that we’ve all endured.

***

Approximately 200 Years Later…

“Steadfast, you stupid bastard…” I cursed as I put the log book back down on the desk. I just couldn’t take it, so I abandoned the Captain’s Cabin and my unconscious compatriot and walked back onto the bridge.

“You alright Porter?” Meteor asked as I passed him.

Obviously I’m not alright, if the fact that I’m marching up to a frozen corpse means anything. “Steadfast, you fucking idiot!” I yelled as I whipped the Captain’s chair around to get a good look at the frozen blood and spike still clenched in the dead pony’s fist. “You didn’t need to cure yourself, you could’ve made it back to the bunker. I could’ve helped you!”

But dead ponies don’t speak, even when spoken to. “There’s nothing you could’ve done Porter.” Meteor said as he patted me on the back.

“And just how do you know that?”

“Because I read those last few log entries too. Steadfast broke, and in a world like this you can’t fix that.” Meteor softly replied.

I turned my gaze to the key hanging around Steadfast’s neck and ripped it off. “Looks like you’ll have your Marines after all General.”

“I didn’t consider it to be a problem.” Meteor said as he pushed past and scooped Steadfast’s dead body out of the chair. “Now come on, we’ve got a job to square away.”

All I did was follow Meteor to the exit ramp and down into the drifts of frozen ice and snow. Even in the dimly lit forest I could tell that Meteor had already dug out a shallow grave in the icy soil under the picket. “I see you put some magic to good use…” I observed as Meteor gently placed the corpse in the grave.

“It was either that or find a jackhammer.” The General countered. With a wave of his hand the soil that had been excavated dropped from a barely shimmering portal and refilled the hole. “Now then… Do you want to say a few words Porter?”

I tried to say… Well, something. But considering the events of the last few days, and where I was now, I couldn’t bring myself to open my mouth. I finally shook my head. “I can’t…”

Meteor nodded and crossed his arms, his expression softening slightly. “Steadfast I can’t say that I knew you, but even in death I feel your pain. You lived through changes so profound, so monumental, that very few could hope to survive. You may have lost out in the end, but you starred that brave new world right in the face and did more than anyone could have ever asked… Now rest Captain, because you’ve earned it.”

“You certainly said it better than I could’ve…” I muttered. “So what now?”

“Now we work on thawing this bucket of bolts out.” Meteor replied as he made his way to the drifts that marked the edge of the hull. “I’ll work on thawing the engines out. Just keep an eye on the bridge while I’m out here.”

Getting back on the picket was easy enough, considering that the main ramp was still down. But as I stepped onto the bridge I laid my eyes on that now empty chair that crowned the large compartment. For some reason I felt drawn to it as I sat down and spun forward. Monitors blinked to life across the row of consoles that lined the floor space. “Porter, you there?” Meteor called out over my radio. I remained silent. Maybe it’s because I’m still taking everything in, but the events of the last few days started making my head spin. “Porter, if you can hear me I’ve got the engines running. I’ll be back inside shortly.”

“Copy that Meteor.” I curtly replied before shutting off the black communications device. Hearing Meteor’s explanation as to why everything started coming back on made me feel a bit more confident. As I heard the dim echos of footsteps from farther back in the picket, I took the opportunity to lean back into the chair. If I didn’t know any better I’d say that I was smiling. “Now then… Let's go to war.”

Author's Note

So right away lets break things down. Yes, this is the last chapter of E-201. But of course there's some other things I want to cover... Note how Spark simply disappeared, and keep in mind that this story isn't the last time we'll be seeing our scottish-accented stallion, chronologically or otherwise. That disappearance will be revisited later on in the sequel to Broken Mirror, Reflections. As for that ending, those are the events that took place just before Dusk regained consciousness in the chapter Relics. So finding the picket started off Steadfast's journal, and E-201 took us back to where the story was kicked off from.

In the meantime, anyone got questions? Like what you're seeing so far? Hell, maybe have some gripes? There's a comment section and the Mirrorverse Codex. Read and comment away, because I want to hear from you fellow denizens of this corner of the internet. Until next time gang!
-Striker